The haul this time was still substantial.
Smoker and Tashigi were, in the original timeline, fairly prominent supporting characters—so having both of them captured together counted for a lot. Even if their raw combat power wasn't astronomical—Smoker at his current strength only ranked around the Broken-Arm level (破军级), not even reaching the Siege tier—this was not meant as an insult; it was simply the reality. Smoker's strength was largely derived from the Smoke-Smoke Fruit. As a Logia with elemental power, he could give trouble to anyone who hadn't trained Haki, and that alone made him frightening in Rog Town. But it also meant his rise and limits were tied to that fruit: natural-type Devil Fruits can be powerful, but Smoke doesn't have the raw offensive weight of Flame, Ice, or Magma types. Smoker himself hadn't developed the fruit to a very aggressive style, so beyond a point his only path to greater strength was Haki training. Only by cultivating Haki could he truly rise further.
"An A-rank evaluation? Not bad."
Adrian felt satisfied with the operation's grade. An A was impressive—especially since he'd also received one of each A-tier random tickets. That was likely because he'd kidnapped an entire Marine ship with Smoker—an influential Marine captain who might be a seed for future promotion. If the Navy learned a whole ship and a future mid-high-ranking officer had been taken, the news would explode. Reporters would make it a major story. So while Smoker and Tashigi alone might not push the grade to A, the impact and reputation effect certainly could. In Adrian's own internal rating system, this was effectively A+++—but that was his private scale.
He'd even been mentally scheming about finer grading tiers—A+, A++, A+++ corresponded to extra random-ticket rewards. While he mulled that over, the system suddenly chimed.
"Ding! Host's suggestion is excellent. The system adopts your proposal: small-tier pluses will be applied to event grades."
Adrian scowled internally. "Damn it." He muttered at the system. "If you take my idea, you at least owe me a reward—copyright fee, come on!"
The system responded with a gift: a one-time random past-time pocket watch.
He inspected the item description.
[One-time Random Past-Time Pocket Watch] — A system exclusive. Press the top button to randomly jump to a past time point. You may remain there for 60 minutes; when the time ends you automatically return to the original time. (Warning: actions in the past will alter the future. Use with extreme caution.)
A time device—powerful, but random. Adrian weighed it in his mind. Randomly jumping into the past could land him anywhere: Roger's execution, the age of the Golden Lion, the God Valley War, or eight hundred years ago when the original twenty kings founded the World Government—anything. Dangerous and unpredictable. Not yet. He pocketed the watch into his system space for now—no point recklessly risking a temporal tumble until his power reached catastrophe-tier.
The three A-tier tickets were already in hand and he decided to use them immediately.
"Use."
"Ding! A-rank random-weapon ticket used successfully."
"Ding! Congratulations — obtained: Slip-Slip Fruit!"
A uniquely patterned Devil Fruit materialized in his palm.
[Slip-Slip Fruit] — Paramecia-Type (Slip). After consuming, the user becomes slippery: their skin becomes smooth and objects that touch them slip away. Grants beautifying effects. Side-effects of Devil Fruit users (susceptible to sea water and Seastone).
Adrian read the short blurb and chuckled. "Oh, the fruit that turned that fat woman into a beauty in Luffy's first stop." Cute, but useless to him: paramecia fruit with such cosmetic side effects and the usual Devil Fruit weaknesses—who would want it? He tossed it into system space for eventual use by a subordinate or perhaps as a bargaining chip for someone who cared about looks; for now it was unnecessary.
Next ticket.
"Use."
"Ding! A-rank random-ability ticket used successfully."
"Ding! Congratulations — obtained: Conqueror's Haki (Siege-tier)!"
A wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted from Adrian, rolling outward like a king's presence. Weak-willed people nearby collapsed, fainting on the spot; the strong felt shaken, as if struck upon the head; only those of great power merely frowned and remained standing.
[Conqueror's Haki] — Originally from the pirate world: a kingly willpower. Those who possess it can intimidate and overwhelm foes without striking. Weak minds can be knocked unconscious; higher mastery grants oppressive pressure and can be woven into combat to increase offensive power.
Adrian scanned the ability entry and nodded. Conqueror's Haki was excellent for crowd control—perfect for clearing low-level resistance. Reiatsu could produce pressure as well, but Conqueror's effect was an ideological strike: it directly targeted will. For clearing out troops, it was superior.
He used his final A-ticket.
"Use."
"Ding! A-rank random-underling ticket used successfully."
"Ding! Congratulations — obtained: Kakashi Hatake (Siege-tier)!"
A man with silver hair, a face mask, and a jonin headband materialized—Kakashi, kneeling before Adrian.
"Kakashi Hatake, at your service, Master," he said, head bowed.
"Stand." Adrian waved. "From now on call me Boss."
Kakashi rose. Siege-tier—that made sense; this Kakashi seemed to be from a later era, likely the period where his power had matured (the Shippuden Kakashi). Adrian inquired, "Kakashi, have you awakened your Mangekyo Sharingan?"
"Yes, Boss. I have."
That explained it. With the Mangekyo active, Kakashi's combat capacity skyrocketed. He wasn't a mere Jonin anymore—he could plausibly rank Siege-tier. Kakashi's stamina remained a potential issue; he was known to be chronically under-enduring—overuse of his eye cost him severely. Adrian advised him to train his body and learn Haki from Lucci—Kakashi agreed sheepishly.
"Kakashi, go to the Shark. Learn Haki from Lucci and train your body—you're too fragile."
"Yes, Boss." Kakashi's masked face flushed; being told to bulk up by Adrian felt like a slight on his pride, but the truth was unavoidable: the Sharingan exacted a steep cost on a non-Uchiha. To Kakashi, the eye's consumption was multiple times that of an Uchiha's—thus his thin endurance.
Adrian paused to plan. "Wait a few days before we press the Navy. First, I must kidnap Luffy. Smoker was just an appetizer. Capturing the main character will take this bandit operation's rating even higher and bring far greater rewards. Then we can squeeze more from the Marines—perhaps even extort something from Garp."
He looked at Lucci. "Go warn the Marines in this town to stay put for a week. If anyone interferes with my plan to kidnap Luffy, burn the town down."
"Understood."
Lucci left to carry out the order. Adrian's tone was ice-cold: he disliked harming civilians for no reason, but he wouldn't tolerate obstacles to his gain. Smoker had likely been alerted to this area by surviving Navy personnel using communication lines—the higher-ups sent reinforcements. But because Adrian's team had momentum, everything had reversed: the ship that came to hunt them ended up as a captive vessel.
—
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